SACRED HEART UPDATE: Saints advance to Div. 4 South semis

When the pressure is on, the Sacred Heart boys soccer team continues to play its best soccer. The Saints cashed in on all four of their chances in the round of penalty kicks Tuesday to take a 2-1 win over visiting Nantucket and advance another round in the Division 4 South sectional playoffs.

When the pressure is on, the Sacred Heart boys soccer team continues to play its best soccer. The Saints cashed in on all four of their chances in the round of penalty kicks Tuesday to take a 2-1 win over visiting Nantucket and advance another round in the Division 4 South sectional playoffs.

Sacred Heart (15-2-1, second seed in the D4 South bracket) took on Abington in the semifinals Thursday night at Veterans Stadium in Quincy. The other semifinal had West Bridgewater taking on Cohasset, with the winners going back to Quincy Saturday night (7 p.m.) to decide the section champion.

“This team continues to impress me,” second-year Head Coach Matthew Bruninghaus said after Tuesday’s win. “We have so many young players on the team, yet they have bonded together with the upperclassmen on and off the field and have become a real team.”

The Saints are very young, with a pair of eighth-graders and two freshmen in the starting 11. One of those young guns is middle school student Ryan Bigley, he of the 10 shutouts and a sub .6 goals against average this season.

Bigley was clutch in the PK round, making two great saves. The Sacred Heart shooters did their job as Griffin Ostrowski, Kevin Strohschneider, Eric Struski and Kieran Kelleher all stepped the line and converted their chances.

This is the second year in a row that the Saints have been perfect in PK’s in the playoff game. They were five-for-five last season in a win over West Bridgewater.

Kelleher got Sacred Heart on top with a goal in the 16th minute of the game. Nantucket responded in kind with a score in the 31st minute to send the teams into the break locked in a 1-1 tie.

Bigley was very busy in the second half and two 10-minute overtime sessions, watching several Whaler chances fly by the post or crossbar and coming up with several big saves to keep it a tie game.

Sacred Heart defeated Sturgis West Saturday, 4-0, in the opening round of the Division 4 South playoffs.

Sacred Heart girls soccer

#3 seed Division 4 South

Sacred Heart’s season came to an end Tuesday afternoon with a 4-0 loss to Rockland in the Division 4 South playoffs. Rockland had a 1-0 lead at the break but then opened up the game with three quick goals in the second half.

The Lady Saints opened the playoffs Saturday by beating Norfolk Aggie, 6-2. Freshman Bridget LeBlanc scored two goals with assists from junior Kelley O’Donnell and freshman Olivia DiBiase. Senior Moira Gattoni scored a goal with an assist from O’ Donnell. O’Donnell scored a goal with an assist from Gattoni. DiBiase scored her first two goals of the season with assists from LeBlanc and eighth-grader Aidan MacDonald.

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Sacred Heart volleyball

#3 seed in Division 3 South

The Lady Saints (17-5) wrapped up their season Tuesday night inside the Flaherty Gym with a 3-0 loss to Archbishop Williams in the Division 3 South playoffs.

The Mayflower League champions had no problems in their tourney opener Sunday afternoon, sweeping Blue Hills in three sets.

E-Mail the reporter at dwolcott@wickedlocal.com and follow him on Twitter, @davidwolcott1.